Once again, the number I have read is a clear minority: 33. I have yet to determine whether this is due to sloth (you may notice the distinct escapist slant in my reading list; while I try to balance my reading with some literary fiction, much of what I read isn't going to make anyone's "best of" lists, quite frankly) or just the fact that there are so many books that no one could possibly cover them all. "[O]f making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (Eccl. 12:12).

Rebecca also asks, "Would an American list be different? A Canadian one?" Naturally, the American list would include more American works. While a few greats, most notably John Steinbeck, get a nod, American notables like William Faulkner, Mark Twain, or Ernest Hemingway are conspicuously absent (as are more recent luminaries such as Toni Morrison . . . meh). Beyond that I'll let the Americans deal with the Americans.

Naturally, a Canadian list would probably include Mordecai Richler, Farley Mowat, Margaret Atwood, and - if we take the gag off the English teachers - Margaret Laurence. My list of favourites, if I were to supplement the above with Canadian works, might include a number of the following Canadian novels which I have read and enjoyed, in no particular order.

Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang, Mordecai Richler

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Stephen Leacock

Life After God, Douglas Coupland

Tempest-Tost, Robertson Davies

The Englishman's Boy, Guy Vanderhaeghe

Owls in the Family, Farley Mowat

I should add, in the interest of full disclosure, that I grew up in the 1980s when Canadian literature had a reputation for being dreck and the library slapping a maple leaf sticker on the spine of a book signalled the kiss of death. This longstanding prejudice against Canadian literature is only recently being reformed, thus my experience is necessarily limited. I'll let some of my other Canadian friends fill in some of the lacunæ in my education. In fact, given enough good suggestions, perhaps "No Sci-Fi September" this year should focus on good Canadian books?

Postscript: Rebecca follows this list up with a list of the top 100 wonders of the world. It's a good thing Niagara Falls made the list (at #87), because otherwise I would have never seen anything wonderful at all.